Liaolong, a border town.
Ten days had already passed since Chen Yan and Su Hongzhen arrived here.
During this period, the news that Matou Village had been ransacked by bandits, with no villagers surviving, had long since spread throughout the entire town.
Matou Village had over seventy households, nearly four hundred people slaughtered by the bandits. This incident naturally drew the attention of the Liaolong imperial court.
The court dispatched an imperial commissioner, personally accompanied by the local prefectural governor, to inspect the border situation in Liaolong.
Furthermore, in addition to the local military forces, the higher authorities had additionally dispatched two thousand more troops to suppress the bandits.
And Liaolong's actions undoubtedly also aroused the vigilance of Great Yu's Li Chengyuan.
While Li Chengyuan was leading his troops northward, his own backyard was being encroached upon by a neighboring country's troops amassing at the border. To say he didn't care was impossible.
This Great Yu's Lord Jing'an also sent an envoy to demand an explanation from the Liaolong court.
If it was merely suppressing bandits, Liaolong's border garrison would have been completely sufficient. Why the need to dispatch an additional two thousand elite soldiers?
Perhaps, regarding the current situation in Great Yu, the heart of the Liaolong emperor was also making its own calculations.
...
"How are you doing?"
Chen Yan walked out of his room and saw the youth sitting on the inn's railing, gazing at the street scene.
"Much better!"
Su Hongzhen turned around and spoke towards Chen Yan's direction.
At his age, his healing ability was naturally fast. Coupled with the fact that rib injuries didn't cause too much impact on simple movements, Little Su, after a few days of rest, could already move about freely and walk around.
He lightly jumped from the railing to the ground:
"Hiss!"
Immediately followed by a sharp intake of cold breath.
Chen Yan's expression was calm, his eyes utterly placid as he looked at him:
"If you keep this up, your injury will never heal."
Knowing he was in the wrong, Little Su just raised his hand to scratch the back of his head, then gave a sheepish chuckle.
During this past week, aside from daily routines, Chen Yan had spent almost all his time on cultivation.
His cultivation had already begun progressing towards the mid-stage of the Body Forging Realm.
To reach the peak of the Body Forging Realm, judging by his current progress, Chen Yan would need roughly over two months.
After that, he would need another three-plus months to achieve the leap from the peak of the Body Forging Realm to the Qi Circulation Realm.
This was the third time he was walking this path.
The first time, Chen Yan took thirty years.
The second time, with the help of the Hidden Immortal Art and his own experience, Chen Yan took two years.
And this time, it would only take half a year.
This speed was absolutely not considered fast, because he had personally witnessed Youyou's rate of progress under Mr. You's guidance back then.
The gap between people was far greater than imagined.
If even Pure Dust True Person, who could only be considered mediocre among the thirty-one Ascending to Immortality beings, possessed such a terrifying cultivation speed back then...
Then what about the Falling Star Realman, who was second only to Immortal Venerable Fusheng?
Chen Yan shifted his gaze once more to the youth before him, still wrapped in bandages.
"What's up, Brother?"
Su Hongzhen looked somewhat bewildered in Chen Yan's direction.
"I'm planning to leave."
Chen Yan said.
"Where to?"
The youth asked.
"Great Yu is currently embroiled in war, and this Liaolong is also unstable."
Chen Yan said slowly:
"I plan to go to Yunxi."
"Yunxi?"
Upon hearing this, Su Hongzhen was slightly taken aback, then said:
"But I heard the distance between Yunxi Country and Liaolong is over a thousand *li*, and you have to cross the Mei River too."
"By horse, it might take about ten days or so."
Chen Yan said.
The youth wore a thoughtful expression, fell silent for a moment, then tentatively asked:
"Brother, can I go with you?"
"Go with me?"
Chen Yan asked in return.
"Don't worry, I definitely won't keep spending your money. After all, I learned carpentry for two years, I can support myself... Or rather, I can even pay you back for these days' lodging and medicine money later!"
Su Hongzhen quickly added.
"Why do you want to go to Yunxi with me?"
Chen Yan continued asking.
"Because... I want to learn that move from you."
"What move?"
"The one where you threw the stone back then."
"Compared to throwing stones, there's something else more suitable for you."
Chen Yan said.
"More suitable for me?"
Su Hongzhen was puzzled.
"Like this."
Chen Yan tapped the sword hanging at his waist.
The sword suspended at his waist wasn't anything special, still that ordinary iron sword he had picked up on the battlefield in Great Yu's Northern Desert back then.
Little Su stared at the sword at Chen Yan's waist for a while, then said again:
"Why?"
"You'll find out why eventually."
Chen Yan said.
Back when Chen Yan was at Wind Ravine Valley, he had read many ancient texts about the various Immortal Ascension Realm cultivators.
This was also normal.
Because Su Hongzhen, as a rogue cultivator, only truly entered everyone's view precisely because of his outstanding performance at that Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry.
Thus, Chen Yan shifted his focus to that Daomen Xingzou of the Mirage Palace who was very close to Su Hongzhen back then.
But he still couldn't find more relevant information. The Mirage Palace, while being the most ancient immortal cultivation sect on Chenping Continent, was also exceedingly mysterious.
That Mirage Palace Daomen Xingzou had some records in historical texts.
Because they were very discordant.
Even in the texts compiled by the Mirage Palace itself, there were some conflicting records and descriptions.
Someone wanted to conceal something, perhaps related to Su Hongzhen.
Chen Yan quickly understood this point.
Since he couldn't obtain more information about Su Hongzhen from that Mirage Palace Daomen Xingzou, Chen Yan immediately changed his approach.
Sure enough, Chen Yan discovered something useful.
It was a personal journal from sixty-seven hundred years ago, written by the deceased former Supreme Martial Pacification Elder of Wind Ravine Valley. Therefore, a copy of the journal was also stored in Wind Ravine Valley's Scripture Repository.
That Supreme Martial Pacification Elder and Su Hongzhen could barely be considered people of the same era.